Grilled Pork Chop with Chilli & Chocolate Glaze, Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Red Potatoes

Checking on the expiration day on the chocolate glaze I brought during my UK trip last fall. Oh my God! It is going to be expired on May. I'd better use it before it turns bad. I got the glaze from a store called Hotel Chocolate, which is specialized in luxury chocolate products. I never heard about Hotel Chocolate (probably it is a UK brand). My friend in UK was very excited when we passed by the store and insisted to stop by to get some chocolate.

The store is decorated in very modern style. I could feel the "luxury" right away and the price are also very "luxury". For the products, except the traditional chocolate sweets (including a lot of "special" favors), they also offer some interesting products such as chocolate pasta, coca vinegar, chilli olive oil, coca dressing and chocolate glaze for cooking. Of course I couldn't afford to get them all. So, I picked 3 products: the chilli dark chocolate, the chocolate pasta and the chilli & chocolate glaze. The chilli dark chocolate is very smooth with just a hint of chilli. It is good but not too impressive. I cooked the chocolate penne couple months ago according to the instruction on the package. Um... I gotta say I prefer the regular penne. 

With the experience of the two not very impressive products, I didn't have much expectation on this Chilli & Chocolate Glaze. According to the package, it is for either poultry or fish. The provided recipe is the "Tuna with Chilli & Chocolate and Crushed Sweet Potatoes". Sounds pretty good but I don't have tune or sweet potato or chicken at home. Instead, I have pork chop, brussels sprouts and red potatoes. And the result? Actually not bad!

Ingredients:

• 2 thin pork chops with bone
• 2 handful of brussels sprouts
• 4-6 small red potatoes, washed and quartered
• 1 slide of bacon, chopped
• 1/4 medium onion, chopped
• 3 tablets Chilli & Chocolate Glaze
• 4 dried bay leaves, crushed 
• a pinch of cumin
• salt & pepper to taste
• some chopped parsley for garnish 

Cooking Direction:

1. Season the pork chop with salt, pepper and crushed bay leaves. Cover and marinate the pork chop in fridge for at least 1 hour. If you are using the chocolate glaze from Hotel Chocolate, add less salt as the glaze is already quite favorable.
2. Pre-heat oven to 350F. 
3. Wash the brussels sprouts, toss them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. For the quartered red potatoes, toss with olive oil, season with salt, pepper and cumin.
5. Put the season brussels sprouts and red potatoes in one layer on a baking sheet. Roasted in the pre-heat oven for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate glaze in a double boiler (heat transferable bowl over a pot of boiling water). Set aside and keep warm. 
7. 10 minutes before the roasted brussels sprouts are done. Cook the bacon and onion in a medium pan until the bacon is crisp and onion turns brown.
8. Take out the roasted brussels sprouts and toss with the bacon and onion. Set aside and keep warm.
9. Keep roasting the red potatoes while preparing the pork chop. 
10. Heat a griddle pan at medium heat until a drop of water evaporate slowly.
11. Grill the pork chop for 5 minutes, turn, and grill additional 3 minutes.
12. Place the roasted brussels sprouts and red potatos on the plate. Put the grilled pork chop on top and top with 1 table spoon of the chilli & chocolate glaze. Garnish with chopped parsley. 

Grilled Pork Chop

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Roasted Red Potatoes